When You Are Near
by CompassionAndCaring
Summary: Highschool AU. Sam is Kripke High's nerd and everyone's target for bullying. Gabriel Deysaw is the popular kid that everyone loves. It's a typical love story filled with crushes, friendship, and obstacles. Inspired by imagine-sabriel's highschool AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is my third SPN fic, and I hope you guys enjoy it! It's going to be a work in progress of course, and I got the prompt/thing for it from . post/75740122499/highschool-au. It's an absolutely lovely Sabriel blog and if you're a hardcore shipper you should definitely check it out! Review please! Also, warnings for homophobia and bullying in this!**

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Through the thin hallways and classroom walls of Kripke High, not a single soul couldn't hear someone yell, "Hey, Poindexter! Been to the Fag Convention lately?" And you could bet money on it, just about all of the students (and some of the teachers) laughed or held back a smile along with it. They weren't the most wonderful people, and no one would do anything about it, because they thought it was hilarious.

Well, everyone except for Sam Winchester, the school's obligatory nerdy and unpopular kid. His features consisted of a tall, lanky build of a body (six feet tall and still growing), floppy brown hair that always fell in front of his wire-rimmed glasses, ripped up jeans from the many falls he had endured from bullies, a plain gray sweater from the thrift store downtown, and blue braces that he's had since middle school.

Not only was he teased and harassed for his looks, but everyone in town knew that Dean, Sam's older brother, dropped out of high school three years ago. Dean just always gave up when it came to homework, and since the Winchester family moved frequently from place to place after a house fire killed their mother sixteen years ago...Dean was never able to catch up on anything and stopped caring.

And that made them believe that Dean was stupid, or just didn't care about himself. But that wasn't the case at all, the teachers never gave him the time of day for him to catch up on his work or to make sure he was on the same level as the other kids. As a result, Sam became known as the 'kid with the dropout brother' among other things. But Dean was happy, working in Bobby's garage or Ellen's bar, making more money than most did.

So after hearing his daily insult from someone, Sam trudged through the halls, head hung in shame and also avoiding the eyes of people's stares and smirks. All of Sam's few friends were home sick with the flu, so today he ate lunch alone.

But that was alright by him, he had spent most of his school days by himself, so he brought his math textbook and read it while munching on his sandwich, occasionally fixing his glasses when the slid down his nose...he needed new ones, this pair being too big to fit properly onto his face. His dad refused to pay for new ones, saying that Sam could suck it up and deal with it like a real man.

Trying to drown out the snickers and chattering surrounding him, Sam tried desperately not to cringe at the small whispers of 'fag' or 'fairy' directed towards him. He never understood homophobia; why be afraid of someone's sexuality if it has nothing to do with you?

Also why care about the gender someone prefers to sleep with as long as it's consensual and safe? It wasn't his fault he was gay, it was just who he was. And if people couldn't deal with that, it was their problem, not Sam's.

But that didn't make their words hurt any less.

A ball of paper was thrown onto Sam's table, and he looked up from his book to see who threw it, but everyone was now talking to their own groups of friends and didn't seem to notice the bewildered nerdy kid. Grabbing the paper and opening it, Sam expected it was some pathetic insult made by the group of jocks that sat next to his table, or maybe it was just a piece of trash someone decided to throw at him. That was pretty normal for Sam Winchester.

It took him a while to finally open it, but eventually he did, and it read in messy handwriting:

_Meet me behind the school building at 3 tomorrow, I've got something for you, kiddo._

Sam couldn't believe what he was seeing. He almost thought he was asleep and this was all some dream. Pinching himself and wincing, Sam now knew that this was reality.

The only person that Sam knew who said 'kiddo' to anyone was Gabriel Deysaw, the infamous prankster that tortured students and teachers. He was a good guy, just loved to screw around with people. He was loyal to his friends and charming to those who caught his eye. Gabriel oozed confidence and popularity, and everyone wanted to be around him.

Short with gold eyes and honey brown hair, Sam had a small crush on him the minute he saw him freshman year, and it stuck ever since, his stomach doing flips whenever he saw him in the hallways or his heart pounding when someone mentioned his name.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't small...but it was still a crush.

Sam crumpled the paper back into a ball and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. Smiling shyly to himself, butterflies found their way to Sam's stomach and he secretly could not wait till tomorrow. He found it hard to concentrate on his textbook, barely being able to focus without thinking about tomorrow and the person he'd be seeing. The words just seemed to jumble together and appear like a blob of ink, and sounded like nothing.

The lunch bell rang and students poured out of the cafeteria, shoving their way past Sam and telling him to move. But he didn't care, not letting their verbal stabs bother him.

He had something to look forward to for once.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for such a long wait! I was working on my other stories, like the then momentous task of finishing _I'll Try to Help You._ Combined with life and school things, it was almost impossible for me to sit down and write. But anyways, here is another chapter! Trigger warning for bullying at the beginning of this chapter! Also, there is implied Destiel in this chapter, if you're wondering. **

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Several hours later, the bell rang and school was finally over. Sam sighed in relief of being able at the end of the day to walk away from it all. It was exhilarating and refreshing...who knew just leaving a towering brick building filled with dread and horror could give you such a sense of relaxation. Adjusting his glasses, Sam braced himself for the pushes and shoves that he got on his way out.

Walking to the doors that lead to freedom, Sam felt a pair of strong hands press themselves against his upper back and hurl his body forward. Flying, Sam managed to catch himself against a wall next to the glass doors. He didn't bother to see who did it, knowing that it didn't matter. Nothing would be done about it, it never did.

He learned to live with it.

And he knew that he shouldn't, Sam knew that eventually he would have to stand up for himself. Otherwise he'd be pushed around for the rest of his life. He had to earn respect, to show people that he was a human being and didn't deserve to be pummeled or treated horribly.

But that was pushed aside for another day. It always was.

Opening the door, Sam breathed in a breath of clean, fresh air. It felt amazing, completely unlike the stuffy, tense air that he always breathed inside the monstrosity that he called a school. Sure you could open a window, but it wasn't the same.

Standing in front of the building, scuffling his tennis shoes against the asphalt, he waited for the only family he ever knew.

And soon enough, the ever familiar Chevy came flying in front of him. Well, not really _flying _but with the way Dean drives sometimes, it might as well be. Sam honestly didn't know how Dean has never gotten in an accident before, but then again if he did there'd be hell to pay for wrecking his 'Baby'. That car was Dean's pride and joy, and loved it to pieces. But he'd cry instead if it really ended up in pieces.

With the windows rolled down, classic rock blared through the speakers. Today it was Boston's _More Than a Feeling,_ which admittedly, Sam rather liked himself. At least Dean wasn't ruining it by singing this time.

"Hey, Sammy. School alright? Talk to your little man-crush at all?" Dean teased. Dean knew full well how 'Sammy' was his little brother's least favorite nickname, and also about Sam's infatuation with Gabriel Deysaw, and poked fun at him on occasion. Sam didn't mind it, more fond of it if it came from his brother rather than anyone else.

"Sammy is a chubby twelve-year old's name. It's Sam. And no...I didn't say anything to my 'man-crush'. Doesn't even know I exist," Sam replied with exasperation. Dean held his hands up in surrender, with a small shit-eating smirk on his face. Rolling his eyes, Sam walked around the Impala and got into the front passenger's seat, his spot.

Shutting the car door, Sam smiled, "What about you? What's his name...Castiel Hale? The librarian?" Dean's jaw tightened, and a rough blush of color coated his face, making Sam laugh out loud. While his older brother knew about Sam's crush, he knew about how Dean was head over heels in love with the blue-eyed, raven-haired librarian that worked downtown.

Sam was good friend with Castiel, calling him 'Cas' just like Dean did, and liking the socially awkward and knowledgable man. They talked about history as much as they could whenever possible, and both had a love for books. Dean was the opposite, confident and also didn't really like to read. Whenever Dean went to the library with Sam, which wasn't often, Cas would give him the usual "Hello, Dean." and ask if there was anything that he was looking for. Somehow, the man left Dean reduced to a stuttering, blushing mess. With Castiel oblivious to it all.

In all honesty, Sam thought the sooner Dean finally asked him on a date, the sooner all this outrageous sexual tension would end.

"...Shut up," Dean muttered bitterly, and started the car up. The engine roared, and they went home.

The Winchesters lived in a small, slightly unsettling trailer at the edge of town. Painted a faint dusty rose, it looked about as normal as any trailer. And it was, that was the annoying part. Parking in front of their home, both brothers exited the car, Sam throwing his backpack over his shoulder, ready to get some homework done.

Opening the door, Sam and Dean found the trailer empty, their dad probably working still at Bobby's garage. He didn't usually come till late in the evening hours, so they both had the place to themselves. Plopping on the couch, Dean turned on the small TV and Xbox in their living room. Dean liked games, cars, booze, girls, guys, and all fun things. Only four years older than Sam, he sometimes acted like the younger one. Sam was mature for his age, often rolling his eyes at his generation, that sometimes throughly disappointed him.

Looking up at Sam from the couch, Dean held up a controller, "Want to play? I'll kick your ass like last time."

Sam shook his head, "I got homework to do, I'll play later."

Rolling his eyes, Dean turned his attention to the bright X now on the screen, "Bitch."

"Jerk."


End file.
